In June of 2007, 7 friends left the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia on a trip to Nepal. Our mission was to deliver a painting of an amazing man in a remote village which sits at 12,000 feet in the Himalayas. The film that documents this cultural exchange is now finished, and in the summer of 2010, it was carried back to Nepal and shown there. The film premiered in the US on September 16 at the Taubman Museum in Roanoke before beginning a new journey around the country.

Upcoming Shows

We've been named as a official selection in the Southern Circuit of Filmmakers Tour, March 17-24.Shows are in Hapeville, GA 3/17, Madison, GA 3/20, Orangeburg, SC 3/22, Gainsville, GA 3/23, and Manteo, NC 3/24.Learn more by going to the SouthArts blog.

View the theatrical trailer for A Gift for the Village

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Southern Circuit Update

Although it seems far away now, we are looking forward to screening the film as part of the Southern Circuit of Filmmakers Tour this coming spring. The tour is sponsored by an organization called South Arts based out of Atlanta.

The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a program of South Arts. Southern Circuit screenings are funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. Special support for Southern Circuit was provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. SouthArts selected 21 films this year and provides support for a filmmaker to travel with 6 other producer/directors to 5 cities in the south. The tours start in the fall and continue throughout the year. We were given a slot in March, and while we are still working out the details, we do know when and where the film will be shown.

We don't know much about the other films yet, other than their names, but we'll be getting in touch with the other filmmakers as the dates get closer. Here are the other films we'll be traveling with:

1. A Bird of the Air: Margaret Whitten. Lyman (Jackson Hurst) is a loner whose job patrolling highways at night, aiding stranded motorists keeps him at a distance from other people. When a rare, highly talkative parrot flies into his home one day, Lyman needs to figure out where the bird comes from and tries to decode its often cryptic utterances. Enlisting the aid of Fiona (Rachel Nichols), an unconventional librarian who is as interested in Lymanʼs secrets as she is in the bird’s, the pair set off on a search that doesn’t always lead them where they think they’re going, but gradually leads them to one another.

2. Ahead of Time: Zeva Oelbaum. Born in Brooklyn in 1911, Ruth Gruber defied tradition from the moment she became the world’s youngest PhD at the age of 20 in 1931. She went on to become the eyes and conscience of the world as a journalist, photo-journalist and member of the Roosevelt administration. The first journalist to enter the Soviet Arctic in 1935, Ruth traveled to Alaska for the U.S. Dept of Interior in 1942, and was chosen to escort 1000 Holocaust refugees to America in 1944. Ruth turns 100 years old in October 2011 and the film reveals that her trail-blazing spirit and moxie are still inspiring to this day.

3. Barbershop Punk: Sugimora Archer, Kristin Armfield: Is “The Man” controlling the vertical, the horizontal, and the channel you’ll be on? In a privatized American Internet, is big business “Big Brother” or does the free market protect and serve the needs of the average citizen with its invisible hand? With the simple act of swapping files, barbershop quartet baritone Robb Topolski finds himself at ground zero of a landmark case whose outcome will affect the rights of every American citizen.

4. You Don't Know What I Got: Linda Duvoisin. Life. Love. Passion. Five women lay their heart and soul on the line: singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco, activist/poet Linda Finney, police officer Julie Brunzell, artist/architect Myrtle Stedman and housekeeper Jimmie Woodruff. Through a tapestry of homespun stories, confessions, advice, music and poetry, we discover a cross-section of American women with an extraordinary passion for life.

5. Louder Than A Bomb: Greg Jacobs and John Siskel. “Louder Than a Bomb” is a film about passion, competition, teamwork, and trust. It’s about the joy of being young and the pain of growing up. It’s about speaking out, making noise, and finding your voice…it also just happens to be about poetry.If you live nearby or know someone who does, mark your calendars.